Lewis the Dauphin. My lord of Orleans, and my lord high constable, you
talk of horse and armour?

Duke of Orleans. You are as well provided of both as any prince in the world.
1650

Lewis the Dauphin. What a long night is this! I will not change my
horse with any that treads but on four pasterns.
Ca, ha! he bounds from the earth, as if his
entrails were hairs; le cheval volant, the Pegasus,
chez les narines de feu! When I bestride him, I
1655soar, I am a hawk: he trots the air; the earth
sings when he touches it; the basest horn of his
hoof is more musical than the pipe of Hermes.

Lewis the Dauphin. And of the heat of the ginger. It is a beast for
1660Perseus: he is pure air and fire; and the dull
elements of earth and water never appear in him, but
only in Patient stillness while his rider mounts
him: he is indeed a horse; and all other jades you
may call beasts.
1665

Lewis the Dauphin. Nay, the man hath no wit that cannot, from the
1670rising of the lark to the lodging of the lamb, vary
deserved praise on my palfrey: it is a theme as
fluent as the sea: turn the sands into eloquent
tongues, and my horse is argument for them all:
'tis a subject for a sovereign to reason on, and for
1675a sovereign's sovereign to ride on; and for the
world, familiar to us and unknown to lay apart
their particular functions and wonder at him. I
once writ a sonnet in his praise and began thus:
'Wonder of nature,'—
1680

Duke of Orleans. That they lack; for if their heads had any
intellectual armour, they could never wear such heavy
head-pieces.

Rambures. That island of England breeds very valiant
creatures; their mastiffs are of unmatchable courage.
1770

Duke of Orleans. Foolish curs, that run winking into the mouth of a
Russian bear and have their heads crushed like
rotten apples! You may as well say, that's a
valiant flea that dare eat his breakfast on the lip of a lion.

Constable of France. Just, just; and the men do sympathize with the
1775mastiffs in robustious and rough coming on, leaving
their wits with their wives: and then give them
great meals of beef and iron and steel, they will
eat like wolves and fight like devils.